Virtual School Board Meeting Recap - 3/24

This past Tuesday, the Coatesville Area School District held its first live virtual school board meeting.  School Board President Rob Fisher and Superintendent Dr. Dunlap broadcasted the meeting from the administration building conference room with cameras focusing on them. All other board members participated via telephone.

Even though Covid-19 has caused much disruption to everyone's daily life, it didn’t keep almost 300 community members from watching the board meeting live on Tuesday.  Since Tuesday, the meeting has been viewed over 1100 times.  This community engagement is what our district needs. Hopefully, the numbers are evidence to the District the definitive need to live stream all board meetings.

The link for the meeting on the District's homepage made viewing very convenient for community members. Having it available prior to the meeting with the explanation that the meeting would begin at 7:00 was very clear to follow.

If you missed the board meeting here’s what you missed:

School Board Meeting AGENDA 3/24

ADDITIONS, DELETIONS OR MODIFICATIONS

Mr. Fisher: Removed under Education (page 9).

I.  Big Air Entertainment contract with North Brandywine middle school - He said due to the times we are experiencing it would not be prudent at this time.

Mr. Finkbohner:

B.  Policy 805 - Emergency preparedness - he asked to modify it from the second read to the final read.  

PUBLIC COMMENT: Public comment was sent via email and was read by Mr. Fisher

Dawn Barringer - asked the for an examination of two bills payable: (1) Anastasia Landscaping for snow plowing- $9,659  and (2) Office Team Transportation for Coatesville Area Senior High - $11, 677.38. Mr. Fisher stated that someone from the business office will be in touch with her to answer those questions.

C. Peter Barringer

• Expressed that the Board of Directors should not be giving the interim superintendent or interim business manager the full authority of making financial or contracting business decisions. Practices frowned upon by the Chester County District attorney's office as part of the grand jury report.
• Asked who will conduct checks and balances 
• Voiced that the district should not be making decisions that could or will potentially harm the district once the pandemic is over. 
• Questioned why assistant the business manager wasn't promoted to business manager due to experience instead of an accountant 
• Questioned why the asst. business manager is receiving a $25,000 raise with no additional responsibilities list on the agenda as this doesn't seem to be reducing operating costs 
• Voiced opinion that the Board is taking advantage of a global situation as a community cannot fairly or fully transmit comments 
• explained that the financial decisions made now will do more harm- Board should stick to basic reviewing and paying off bills  

Ann Wuertz - At this point the sound quality declined severely - Mr. Fisher had to reread her email.  Thanked all for providing food and reaching out on social media. expressed gratitude for last year's administrative team for securing the grant to provide all of our students with laptops and free breakfasts and lunches.  Worries about the reversal of decisions that were enacted by DA recommendations. Texting and giving authority to the interim superintendent and business manager

contextualized that under the dire situation, it's concerning that the assistant business manager is receiving a $25,000 raise bothered that attrition isn't enough and layoffs will occur apprehensive about the business manager being given a five-year contract without significant experience  

shared appreciation for Karen Hall's service and hopes that exit surveys are filled out.

Jen Manthey - a member of the District's Technology Task Force expressed concern with a contract for BSD at this time. BSD presented its services and offerings to the Task Force. She provided a summary of that presentation including the services they stated they would provide and doesn't see this contract as the direction the District should be taking at this time. Although the technology support services they offer sound like they would be helpful to our small department, what they communicated with her via email is that the support services would not include assistance with Google classroom. She explained that teachers lack support on current technology initiatives and expanded that we need to be focused on supporting our teachers by providing professional development for and enhancing what we already have in place.

APPOINTMENT OF SCHOOL BOARD DIRECTOR FOR REGION I BOARD VACANCY

Over the past two years, those who applied for an open-school board director position would have to submit a resume that included four questions about being on the board.  This time around, all that was asked for was a resume, so we were surprised that only two of the board members choose to ask Mr. Bookman questions before appointing him. 

Andrew Finkbohner asked three questions. He explained that the job of a school board director is incredibly demanding of one's time, and he asked Mr. Bookman if he had the time to invest in this position. Mr. Bookman consented that he did. Mr. Finkbohner then asked what kind of relationship the school board and district should have with the community, parents, and families. As Mr. Bookman answered, it appeared that he was reading his response and in his statement he said that he wanted to advocate for the students and reach out to legislators. Mr. Finkbohner's final question was how Mr. Bookman would handle disagreements within the board to which Mr. Bookman replied that he would hope they can talk to them [problems] out and be transparent.

Becky Harlan followed with the question asking what Mr. Bookman's campaign platform would have been if he had run for the open seat. Mr. Bookman's answer seemed to again come from reading a response. He shared that he is interested in helping students with special needs. He then said due to COVID 19 we need to provide more resources, and he finished his answer by stating more about the need for transparency and cohesive decision making by the board.

The decision was unanimous to vote Mr. Bookman to the Board, and he was sworn in immediately.  We certainly are grateful to Mr. Finkbohner and Ms. Harlan for asking questions.  We are looking forward to getting to know Mr. James Bookman and what he will bring to the Board to help improve our District.  

SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT

Mr. Dunlap thanked the teachers and community for their support during the COVID-19 Epidemic.

He explained that due to these very unusual circumstances the Board approved the emergency resolution so that the District can continue to operate. This resolution gives the Superintendent and the Business Manager the authority to move forward with some contracts without board approval.  This is a temporary measure during this crisis. He advised the resolution was reviewed by our legal counsel and if we don’t keep working on district financial issues, the state could take us over. He also said that the COVID 19 crisis has the potential to make our financial position worse.

In regards to the business manager hired, he advised that this position was posted on August 25, 2019 with sixteen people applying and only two qualified enough for a second interview. He expressed  accolades for the assistant business manager along with our temporary Business Manager, Chuck Linderman. Dunlap recommended Lori Diefenderfer for hire as the new business manager as he has much confidence in her. He shared her background.

Dunlap reiterated that there will be a total saving once the reorganization of the district is completed. However, he offered no explanation as to how that was going to look, other than reducing staff in central administration.

Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) released a Continuity of Education Plan which is a plan to allow school districts to continue to educate all students remotely. He advised that the CASD with legal counsel and the administrative team are reviewing those plans to implement them in the District. Sharing that a plan is being enacted to distribute the Chromebooks to students who do not have them or left them in school.  He proclaimed they [Adminstrative Team] are in the process of establishing technology platforms for delivering remote education to our students while building an online professional development model for our teaching staff.  Once the platform is operational, we will be implementing a series of professional development sessions for our teaching staff. We will be working with CATA to deliver that professional development. 

He announced that the District would soon would be asking for feedback on the school reconfiguration plans via a survey, thanked Karen Hall for her service, and wished her luck in her new position.

He presented a video of a group of students that had an opportunity to go on a STEM field trip. These selected students had the opportunity to work on coding in a fun and exciting atmosphere. The students were selected via an essay they completed.   Board members Henry Assetto and Amelia Mills were also in attendance and were filmed the experience in the video.

He also wanted to make sure the community was aware of CHIP availability for health insurance. He said that information would be placed on the website and sent to parents this week.

Lastly, he mentioned that he would be out of the district for a planned procedure until March 30th and that Mr. Linderman would be in charge during his absence.

BUDGET UPDATE 

Due to the COVID-19 economic impact, CASD faces a projected additional $500,000 shortfall in local sources of revenue including investment revenue, earned income tax, transfer tax, the sale of the property, interim taxes, new construction, and delinquent taxes. The budget may need to be reduced further if things don’t change by April 14. He advised staffing will be adjusted at the April meeting and on the 28th the board is set to adopt the preliminary budget. Currently, they are still in line for the final adoption in June. 

AGENDA ITEMS REMOVED FROM CONSENT AGENDA

Mr. Fisher removed under Finance Committee:

A. Financial Statement – This is normal. Voted yes unanimously - passed

B. Suspension Resolution – Dr. Dunlap advised they can automatically reduce staff due to a decrease in students, so he explained this was within the “code.” He advised there are staff members still advising of retirements.    Voted yes unanimously – passed
 

C. Resolutions pay hourly employees – Dr. Dunlap advised they are looking to pay during this two-week period – there was a house bill 571 was voted on and provided instruction on how these employees were to be paid.      Voted yes unanimously - passed
 

D. Billing and Contracts – Allows the superintendent and business manager to pay bills and enter small contracts between 3/24/2020 and 6/30/2020. Dr. Dunlap addressed the public concern that our solicitor reviewed this and pointed out it is a temporary time period. He said it is for emergencies only.    Voted yes unanimously - passed

E. Business Manager - Lori Diefendorfer hired for 5 years at a salary of $140,000 – There were no questions or comments by board members –Voted – Mr. Rhone abstained, Andrew Finkbohner and Becky Harlan voted no, all others voted yes. The resolution passed by majority vote

F. PAsmart Grant – 35,000 Voted yes unanimously -  passed
 

G. Build Something Different – Selected provider for the PASmart grant. CASD responsibility after the 35,000 Grant is an additional $7,500 – voted yes by all but Andrew Finkbohner - passed by majority vote
 

Mr. Fisher removed from consent agenda in Education Committee:

C. Discipline Code of contact – Mr. Fisher asked to table this to allow more discussion. – voted unanimously to table it.

Mr. Finkbohner asked to remove under Finance Committee:

K. #5 Michelle Kelly assistant business manager increase in salary – no comments offered because of personnel – Brandon Rhone abstained, Becky Harlan and Andrew Finkbohner voted no and all others voted yes – passed by majority vote

PUBLIC COMMENT: Public comment was sent via email and read by Mr. Fisher

Evelyn Dandridge questioned how children without access to chrome books, due to financial hardship, would be able to have the same opportunities as other students. She wanted to know if something would be in place in the situation that school cannot resume this year.

Michelle Miranda requested that end of the year senior activities be postponed and not cancelled.

Kimberly Russeau (spelling from live-stream captioning) questioned when parents would be supplied with the information for their students to use for all of the free technology resources available to teachers and administrators to sign up for.

Kacie S (apologies that the live-stream captioning did not provide accurate spelling of name) lamented concern that we are only school "without our act together." She wanted to know why we don't have a plan in place. At the reading of this another sound issue occurred. Andrew Finkbohner said they [Board members] missed the last part of the public comment - so Mr. Fisher reread- and the sound was problematic again, but sound resumed at the part that was first missed. 

Audra Ritter congratulated and thanked the announced retirees Pete Curran, Leah Givler, Maureen Sell, Mayanne Sell, and Patricia West for their years of service to the District and wished Ashley Viscuso best of luck in her future educational pursuits. After reading her email, Mr. Fisher said that he was going to include appreciation in his closing comments and thanked all of the teachers retiring for their service. 

Katie Hadzor stated appreciation of the live-stream meeting. She thanked Karen Hall for her five years of service to the district and shared that she is disheartened by the lack of well-wishes for teachers of the district some of whom had given their careers in service. She specified recent examples when the administration has been publicly thanked,but the teachers are repeatedly overlooked/ underappreciated in our District. She also conveyed her concern regarding a five-year contract for business manager with little to no experience. Thirdly, she stated that the community is left confused when protocol insists a board member explain reason for abstaining from a vote. 

Ann Wuertz wanted to clarify that the two interim business directors and the director of operations would still be eliminated as a cost savings to the district.